Sounding game mat



May 28, 1963 SAM SOUNDING GAME MAT Filed March 29, 1962 INVENTOR.

JUNE) 5AM BY awa my I A T TORNE Y5 United States Patent 3,091,454SOUNDING GAME MAT .loney Sam, 1031 Stanyan St, San Francisco, Calif.Filed Mar. 29, 1962, Ser. No. 1%3587 6 (Ilaims. (Cl. 273-1) Thisinvention relates to games, and more particularly it relates to aportable game appliance for playing a game of hopscotch.

In the well known game of hopscotch it is necessary to delineate aseries of areas arranged in a predetermined pattern on the ground. Thegame is then played by hopping from one area to the other in accordancewith certain known rules. Ordinarily the game requires a fiat area onwhich is a rather well defined pattern of squares or other areas.Heretofore, such patterns were for-med by marking the area on the groundor on an existing paved surface. This generally limited the game tobeing played outdoors. One object of the present invention is to providea portable hopscotch appliance that can be rolled out onto a flatsurface such as a sidewalk or a floor with areas premarked thereon inthe desired pattern, thus enabling the game to be played either indoorsor outdoors without having to 'mark or mar the paved surface.

Another object of my invention is to provide a portable hopscotchappliance that will emit a sound when certain of the areas in thehopscotch appliance are touched as the game is played. By introducingthis sound producing factor in the hopscotch game many variations of therules of the games can be made to increase its interest among children.For example, the sound for different cells on the appliance may bevaried in tone and correlated with the particular numerical symbol forthat particular cell.

Still another object of my invention is to provide a portable hopscotcharea delineating appliance having air cells in prearranged areas and incombination with a sound producing means wherein the means is mounted sothat it will not be damaged even after the prolonged use of the device.

Another object of the invention is to provide a portable appliance forthe playing of hopscotch which 'is formed of flexible material so thatit can be readily rolled or folded into a small bundle for shipping orstorage.

Still another object of the invention is to provide an appliance forplaying the game of hopscotch which will be durable and efiicient inuse, while also being easy to manufacture at a relatively low cost.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from thefollowing description, reference being had to the accompanying drawingswherein preferred embodiments of the invention are illustrated.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a view in perspective of a sounding hopscotch mat embodyingthe principles of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a view in elevation and in section taken along the line 22 ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view in perspective of a modified form of sounding hopscotchmat according to the invention;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary View in elevation and in sectionshowing a portion of the mat in FIG. 3 with the sound producing meansmounted in a corner location.

Referring to the drawings, in FIGS. 1 and 3 are shown two separateembodiments 1t and 11 of my sound producing hopscotch mat as they appearwhen spread out on a flat level surface such as the ground or floor.Both of the mats and 11 are subdivided into areas 12 of a predeterminedsize and shape forming thereby a particular hopscotch game pattern. Thepreferred mat con- EfihlASi Patented May 23, 1963 figuration as shown iscomprised of ten squares of any convenient size, generally about 18 to24 inches, that are arranged to form a standard hopscotch pattern. TheSquares 12 may be clearly delineated by marking lines 13 on the surfaceof the mats 1t) and 11, and in each square, a numeral or some otherappropriate symbol is also painted on the upper mat surface to conformwith the particular hopscotch game pattern. Other arrangementscomprising dilferent hopscotch patterns having areas with variousgeometric shapes and number sequences could, of course, be used withinthe scope of the invention.

On each of the mats 1t) and 11 all or a preferred number of thesubdivided areas 12 or squares are provided with air filled cells 14.Associated in combination with each of the cells '14 is a soundproducing device 15 that is actuated when during the course of thehopscotch game a player hops on a cell 14 and depresses it.

Turning now to the embodiments shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and to thespecific structural details thereof, the mat 10 is comprised of acentral layer or sheet 16 of material that is cut to the overall desiredconfiguration. The sheet 16 is made of some suitable flexible materialsuch as a plastic or rubber impregnated fabric material. Such well knownmaterials are inexpensive and are also extremely durable when the fabricmaterial is made from a synthetic material such as nylon. The air cells14 in each of the squares 12 on the mat 11) are formed by an upper layer17 of a resilient rubber or plastic material. As shown in the embodimentof FIGS. 1 and 2 the layer 17 may be molded as an integral member havinga plurality of spaced apart raised portions or blisters 13 separated bycoplanar flat areas 19. Each raised portion or blister 18 is resilientlyflexible so that it can be readily depressed but will snap back into itspreformed shape when pressure is released from it. In each of thesquares 12 the interconnecting flat areas 19 around each raised portion18 of upper resilient layer 17 is firmly attached to the central sheet16 by some suitable means such as an epoxy plastic cement, or somesuitable bonding mate rial. The cells 14 may be formed by individualupper layer members fixed to the central sheet as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4rather than a continuous upper layer, if preferred, but in either casethe cell 14 is tightly sealed to the central layer or sheet 16 aroundthe edges of the cell.

0n the mat 10 the central mat layer 16 is provided with a plurality ofair holes Ztl, each of which is preferably centrally located in a squarehaving a cell 14 fixed thereto. Above each hole 20 with the surroundingcell 14 is mounted one of the sound producing devices 15, which can beany suitable type of air-actuated whistle such as the type commonly usedin various types of toys. Generally each whistle 15 comprises upper andlower curved disc members 22 that are attached together at their edgesand which have centrally located aligned ports 23 that produce awhistling sound when air is forced through them. A whistle 15 is bondedto the central sheet 16 within each air cell 14 so that its ports 23 arein line with an air hole 20.

Below the central layer or sheet 16 I may attach a lower layer 24 of amore resilient material such as a thin layer of sponge rubber. Thisresilient material 24 which has holes 25' aligned with the holes 29 ofthe central layer 16, serves to cushion the force of stepping on each ofthe air cells 14 while also allowing the air to escape readily from thecell through the sound producing device 15 and the openings 20. Also,when the pressure on the air cell 14 is released, the resiliency of thelower layer 24 raises the central sheet 16 slightly and ma kes it easierfor air to pass back through the bottom of the mat 10 into the cell.

In the modified mat 11 shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the same hopscotchpattern is utilized with the mat 1 1 subdivided into squares 26 andmarked in the preferred manner. However, in this embodiment I provideda'diilerent form of sound producing means 27 and here they are attachednear the periphery of each of the sound producing squares 27 of the mat11. As shown in FIG. 4, the basic construction of the mat 11 isessentially similar to the mat in that it has a central mat layer 28 anda plurality of air cells 2 9 that are located within all or any desirednumber of squares 26. Here, the air cells 29 are provided :by upper thatlayer members 30 of resilient rubber or rubber like material each havinga raised blister portion 311 surrounded *by a peripheral flange 32 thatis bonded in the aforementioned manner to the cen tral layer 2 8. Eachof the sound producing devices 27 has a cylindrical shape with an axialpassage providing a two Way flow of air that produces a whistling noisewhen the air is forced out of a cell 29. The whistle 27 may be providedwith a reed 33 for producing sound of any desired pitch when air isforced through it.

When playing a game of hopscotch with my invention the participantsfollow the usual hopscotch rules. With the mat conveniently spread outon the ground surface or a floor each participant proceeds to hop fromone square to the next according to the usual procedure. However, instepping on a square 12 or 26 the raised portions or blisters 18 or 3 1are compressed and air is forced from the :air cell 14 or 29 through thesound producing devices 14 or 27. When pressure is released from the aircell, the resiliency of the upper layer causes the cell to snap back toits normal shape thereby causing air to flow back into the cell.

In constructing a hopscotch mat according to the invention, I may add anadditional element of enjoyment to the participants by varying the toneor pitch of the sound produced in each of the squares. For example, Imay use different sized reeds as 33 in the sound producing devices 27shown in FIG. 4.

By producing a sound as a child hops from one square to another, thegame of hopscotch is enlivened to a considerable degree and thevariations in sound produced correlated with the numbers inscribed oneach of the squares provides a means for greatly expanding the enjoymentof the game. My hopscotch mats, though durable and of ample size may befolded into a relatively small package for shipment or storage and yetcan be easily spread out on any flat surface to solve the problem ofproviding a suitably marked playing area.

To those skilled in the art to which this invention relates, manychanges in construction and widely differing embodiments andapplications of the invention may suggest themselves Without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the invention. The disclosures and thedescription herein are purely illustrative and are not intended to be inany sense limiting.

I claim:

1. A portable, foldab-le sound producing mat for playing the game ofhopscotch comprising in combination, a flexible sheet of air tightmaterial, means attached to the upper surface of said flexible sheetforming a plurality of resilient air filled cells spaced apart in apredetermined pattern thereon, air passage openings in said flexiblesheet and located generally centrally within said air cells, a soundproducing whistle means mounted on said sheet at each of said openingswithin a said air cell, whereby the pressure applied to a cell duringthe playing of a game on said mat forces air from the cell through itsassociated sound producing means.

2. The device of claim 1 including a lower layer of resilient materialbonded to said flexible sheet and having openings aligned with said airpassage openings in said sheet.

3. A portable foldable sound producing mat for use in playing the gameof hopscotch, comprising in combination, a sheet of flexible air tightmaterial, an upper layer of resilient material attached to the uppersurface of said sheet forming a plurality of pre-shaped, resilient airfilled cells spaced apart in a predetermined pattern on said sheet, asound producing means retained between said upper layer and said sheetand extending from the outer edge of each of said air cells, each saidsound producing means providing a two way air passage to said air cell,whereby when the game is being played, a sound is emitted each time anair cell is depressed.

4. The device as described in claim 3 wherein each said sound producingmeans comprises a cylindrical body portion having an axial passage and avibrating reed member retained within said passage.

5. The device as described in claim 4 wherein the reeds of the varioussound producing means associated with said cells are of differentlengths thereby varying the sound emitted from said air cells.

6. A portable sound producing appliance for delineating a game field,comprising a plurality of resiliently collapsible air-retaining cells offlexible, air impervious material, said cells being arranged in apredetermined spaced apart relationship in generally the same plane andthereby forming a particularly prearranged pattern on said appliance,each of said cells having an outside air passage; flexible means forinterconnecting said cells and retaining them in said prearrangedpattern; indicia on said flexible means for defining game areascontaining said cells; and a whistle means associated with each of saidcells and located adjacent its said outside air passage, said whistlemeans adapted to produce a sound when the cell is depressed as a game isplayed on the appliance.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS113,646 Foster Apr. 11, 1871 593,343 Whitney Nov. 9, 1897 727,633Humphreys May 12, 1903 847,307 Bailey Mar. 19, 1907 1,227,309 Pope May22, 1917 2,017,536 Hase et a1. Oct. 15, 1935 2,402,109 Williams June'11, 1946 2,440,042 Fried-man Apr. 20, 1948 2,487,546 Harrowe Nov. 8,1949 2,712,201 Wintriss July 5, 1955 2,891,793 Mudry June 23, 19593,024,020 Alton Mar. 6, 1962

1. A PORTABLE, FOLDABLE SOUND PRODUCING MAT FOR PLAYING THE GAME OFHOPSCOTCH COMPRISING IN COMBINATION, A FLEXIBLE SHEET OF AIR TIGHTMATERIAL, MEANS ATTACHED TO THE UPPER SURFACE OF SAID FLEXIBLE SHEETFORMING A PLURALITY OF RESILIENT AIR FILLED CELLS SPACED APART IN APREDETERMINED PATTERN THEREON, AIR PASSAGE OPENINGS IN SAID FLEXIBLESHEET AND LOCATED GENERALLY CENTRALLY WITHIN SAID AIR